About Me

I was a reporter and columnist for 40 years for a chain of newspapers in the suburbs of Chicago. I'm a military veteran having served in the United States Army Combat Engineers (Cpl. E-4) and a Korean War veteran with an Honorable Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States of America

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Everyone from George Bush to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has got a different spin on the the word "time."Last week the Iraqi PM said he wanted a "timeline" for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq.Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama wants a "timetable."And now the Bush administration is calling for a "time horizon."It appears as though all these leaders and prospective leaders have too much "time" on their hands. Der Spiegel quoted the Iraqi PM as saying he agreed with Obama's 16-month plan for troop withdrawals from Iraq, but now al-Maliki is saying he was misunderstood.Could it be that someone from the Bush White House told the puppet leader of Iraq to get back in line with President Bush or face having funding cut off?

It sure looks like it.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

Iraqi PM denies supporting Obama pullout proposal

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki did not back the plan of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to pullout American forces from Iraq and his comments to a German magazine on the issue were misunderstood, the government's spokesman said on Sunday.

According to Ali al-Dabbagh, Maliki's remarks to Der Spiegel were translated incorrectly. The German magazine said on Saturday that the Iraqi leader endorsed Obama's proposal that American soldiers should leave Iraq within 16 months. The interview was released on Saturday.

"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes," Der Spiegel quoted Maliki as saying.

According to Reuters, Dabbagh conveyed statements by Maliki or any other member of the government should not be seen as support for any U.S. presidential candidate.

Maliki's remarks were published a day after the White House said he and U.S. President George W. Bush had agreed that a security agreement currently being negotiated between them should include a "time horizon" for withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The disclosure came as Mr Brown paid a surprise visit to Baghdad yesterday for talks with the Iraqi government.

His meeting with Iraqi premier Nouri al-Maliki, President Jamal Talabani and General David Petraeus, the head of the American military operation, came 24 hours before Mr Obama was also expected to arrive in Baghdad.

Mr Brown and Mr Obama are due to meet in Downing Street later this week.

But any suggestion of a tacit ‘deal’ between the two men is likely to be greeted with fury by Mr Obama’s presidential rival, John McCain, who has not pledged to withdraw American troops.

The complete withdrawal of UK troops on the same timetable would come as a relief to the British Armed Forces, who have complained about the pressure of maintaining 4,000 troops in Iraq and 8,000 in Afghanistan.

Britain has retained a larger troop presence in Iraq for longer than anticipated because of delays in training Iraqi forces to take their place.

However, the task has become easier in recent months because of a dramatic improvement in the political and economic situation in Basra, where the British troops are stationed.

Mr Brown yesterday set out four key objectives for the British operation in Iraq.

These were transferring responsibility for security to Iraqi people, the holding of democratic local elections, economic and social development and transferring the country’s airports from military to civilian use.

He said: ‘We are making very significant progress.

'There have been great steps made since my last visit in December.’

Publicly he refused to say when the last British soldier would leave Iraq.
‘I’m not setting an artificial timetable, but there has been significant progress,’ he said.